R & B is a general term used to describe the pop music of black America. R & B dates back to around 1930, and it is still being performed today. In addition to the obvious influence of the blues, early R & B contained elements of gospel and folk. It also culled from the syncopated rhythms of jazz.

The term R & B was invented by Jerry Wexler and Billboard magazine in the late 1940s. It was seen as a softer description for what was previously known as “race records.” For all intents and purposes, Atlantic Records, in the late 1940s and 1950s, was the first record label to advertise music as “rhythm and blues.” In fact, R & B's popularity is due in large part to the marketing strategies of Turkish-born record executives Ahmet and Nasuhi Ertegun.

Although it's hard to pinpoint R & B's humble beginnings, it emerged after the blues migrated north. This occurred after both world wars. R & B's predecessors, or arguably its earliest practitioners, were urban jump-blues stylists Louis Jordan, Big Joe Turner, and others. In the 1950s, black musicians of various backgrounds found success under the R & B umbrella. Early luminaries included Ruth Brown, Bobby Bland, and the so-called father of R & B, Ray Charles. In reality, Ray Charles was hardly the originator of R & B. However, he was R & B's most visible figure in the 1950s and 1960s.

It's not always easy to tell the difference between R & B and its stylistic cousins, forerunners, and offshoots. For example, Ray Charles made forays into jazz, country and western, and mainstream pop. Dinah Washington was a distinguished jazz singer and R & B artist. Hank Ballard (composer of the song “The Twist”) was arguably an early rock-and-roll singer. When you listen to these and other R & B artists, you will hear a potpourri of musical styles. Despite this, traditional R & B usually contains the following elements:

• Bluesy melodies and improvisation

• Passionate, preacher-like vocal performances

• Use of a backbeat (snare drum strikes on beats two and four)

• Tightly synchronized bass and drums (On bass, early patterns were four-beat walking lines. Later, eighth-note grooves and syncopated sixteenth-note patterns were employed. The drummer typically mimicked bass patterns on his kick drum.)

• Timbral variety (You might hear a smooth-toned singer followed by a growling saxophone.)

• The use of a twelve-bar blues form (not an ironclad rule)